Promotions planned for Springfield police overhaul

SPRINGFIELD -- One month into his tenure as Springfield’s public safety director, Richard Rosell is ready to move forward with a plan to reshape the township’s shorthanded police department, though a new chief likely won’t be named until after the new year.

This month, Rosell hopes to promote officers to fill command positions, streamline the promotion process and begin updating the department’s antiquated operating procedures. As he’s looked for ways to restructure the department, Rosell said he’s reached out to the department’s 37 officers for guidance.

“I sought to empower them by soliciting their opinions so they could be part of the positive change that we’re trying to make here, rather than force my initiatives on them,” he said.

Since June, the department has remained under the supervision of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, which assumed control after Capt. Peter Davis, then acting as officer-in-charge of the police force, abruptly resigned. His departure, coming two months after the former chief and deputy retired, left the department with no officers above the rank of sergeant, though Davis later agreed to stay on through August.
Rosell, a retired state police captain, was hired as the township’s civilian public safety director in July, charged with overseeing the police, fire and emergency management divisions. Around the time of his hiring, the township committee reinstated the rank of police lieutenant, which had been eliminated four years ago in a cost-cutting move.

Currently, the force is six officers short of its maximum compliment, said police officer Jim Morton, the president of the local patrolmen’s union.

But next week, officers will have an opportunity to test for the ranks of sergeant and lieutenant, with the highest scorer on the lieutenant’s exam qualifying to replace Davis as the department’s captain, Rosell said. In time for the township’s first September committee meeting, Rosell hopes to secure an agreement with the two local police unions for an expedited promotion process that would consist of resume reviews and oral interviews with candidates. Previously, the department conducted promotion exams through the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, a process which took at least three months to advance officers, Rosell said.

Simultaneous with the new promotion system, Rosell hopes to recommend a new captain and three lieutenants to the township committee for approval.

And by the end of the year, Rosell said he expects to hire at least two more officers as Springfield looks to replenish its police ranks, though it will take some time to train someone to take over as chief.

“I’m obligated to take my time,” he said. “(The officers) are not going to learn the job of a chief administrator overnight.”

Rosell also ruled out the possibility of importing a chief from another department, saying that would be detrimental to the department’s morale.

The county has also granted the department nearly $34,000 to update its operating procedures to make the department more inured against potential court challenges, Rosell said.